


What lies within a smile

by SillyNonnyFicsAreForFandoms



Series: Sequor Suspirium [4]
Category: DanPlan, actuallyoddplan
Genre: Almost no swearing but there is swearing, Alpha Jay, Alpha Stephen, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Daniel, Beta centric, Fights but they are minimal, Gen, No beta we die like the men Kirishima would want us to be, No drama we here to have fun, Omega Anne, Omega Gavin, Omega Hosuh, Semi Angst, Worldbuilding, Y'all know I love me some worldbuilding, self-reflections
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23174368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SillyNonnyFicsAreForFandoms/pseuds/SillyNonnyFicsAreForFandoms
Summary: Daniel never expected to be a beta. He'd expected to be an Alpha, like his father and Brother. Even if his heritage is mainly dominated by betas, and most of the world joining into the statistic. Still, he presented as a beta nonetheless, an outcast in his own family. He was only learning now how important he was, how he could help people with a smile, no matter how fake it was.But he was also learning how people felt it okay to let down their smiles as well when in his presence.
Series: Sequor Suspirium [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637188
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32





	What lies within a smile

**Author's Note:**

> Hello good people! I'm currently on a break from volunteer work, since the school system is shut down due to the pandemic. So you can expect a lot more fics/what I do post will be longer!  
> Just so y'all know, if you comment something you wanna see, there's a high likelihood I'll write it if it fits in with the story! I'm only expecting to write like 2/3 more stories before this series is done, but we'll see!  
> And, Tik_Tock, I hope you enjoy this! If not, let me know and I'll do what I can to fix it!

Dan knew what it meant to be a beta. It meant calm, it meant being a face in a crowd. Betas made up seventy percent of the population, alphas making up the next twenty, and omegas making up a mere ten percent. He understood that he didn't have as strong a wolf as an alpha, or the instincts of an omega. 

His responsibility was to be calm and to keep others calm. That was what Betas did best, they thought logically and they weren't hindered by the swirling of scents all around them. He was one of many people in this world made to keep the balance. 

But he didn't want to be a beta. He'd rather be a delta, someone with the ability to switch between the three main natures as absolutely necessary by biology to help keep balance. He didn't want to be just a face in the crowd, he wanted to lead the whole damn parade. Then, at least he might have a point.

He wasn't particularly skilled in any one thing, not that he could think of, aside from telling a story. He'd started making videos with Stephen and Hosuh for that reason, and he'd wanted to write books as a kid. But that wasn't something which was expected of him. There were certain jobs only omegas could do, like a lawyer or a nurse, and ninety percent of doctors were betas. With his family's background, their expectations, he saw himself as a failure.

Elias, his brother, was an Alpha. He'd presented while they were visiting their grandmother and some local kids had decided to bully Dan, shoving his face into the dirt, all because he was a weirdo with green hair. It was a trait he'd gotten from his father, the gene for oddly colored hair only passing down through alphas but able to manifest in any nature. Elias's bright blue hair would normally have drawn their ire, but they knew better than to deal with someone who was stronger than they were.

It had only taken a growl from the normally calm teen and it had sent the bullies running for their parents. Dan knew then that his brother would be an alpha like their father, and he expected to follow suit. Korea was a beta-dominated country, with only a very small percent being alphas or omegas.

While their mother was an omega, he had completely ruled that out as a possibility. He didn't have the build for it, he was too prone to picking fights with Stephen, there was no way he would be an omega. 

He hadn't expected to be a beta, like his grandparents. It hadn't been a shock to his brother, nor to his parents, but he was floored by the revelation. It didn't make sense to him that he would be a beta. How could he? Neither of his parents were betas. He was not supposed to be a beta, he was sure of it.

Dan had presented second out of his friend group, with Stephen's little brother presenting first. It made no sense to him what they said, that it was expected for him and he was just going to go on to be a lawyer or something. He didn't notice many changes after his presenting, except that people's scents stood out a little more.

The hardest thing, he realized, was his relationships. Be it friendly or otherwise.

His friends knew they could trust him, that as a Beta, he wasn’t likely to go and be forced to tell anyone. He couldn’t be affected by their scents. It meant he was trusted by people who may not normally have trusted him with such information.

Dan was pretty sure he was the only one who knew about Hosuh’s short bout of baby fever in highschool. How was he so sure? Because he could remember the day so clearly that it was hard to believe someone else knew. He’d come over to get his opinion on a letter, written by his grandmother in Korean, which contained a few characters he couldn’t recognize. He could have asked his parents, but they were busy and Elias had been spending time getting ready for college. So he’d decided to go to Hosuh’s to get some clarification, only to find his mother happily cooking in the kitchen.

She’d greeted him with a smile, the woman was always happy to see him or Elias, and told him that Hosuh was doing homework in his room. He’d thanked her and gone up to the omega’s room, making sure to knock on the door so as not to shock him when he walked in. There was no response. 

“Hoosssuuuhhh?” He called, slowly opening the door and peeking in. He didn’t know if, by scent alone, anything was wrong but he was determined to find out. He hadn’t expected to see the omega laying down in the middle of his room, sprawled out over a bunch of… Were those baby blankets? Why did he have baby blankets?

“Dan?” Hosuh asked, looking up at him as his face flushed, “I think I’ve lost control of my life.” 

He couldn’t help laughing at the thought; apparently, Hosuh’s baby fever had been triggered by an event a few days prior, where a little kid and their baby sister were lost in the park looking for their mother. Stephen had gone over to help, dragging Hosuh and Dan over with him as he used his sensitivity to scents to help them find their mother while Dan and Hosuh helped calm them down. The little child tripped while they were walking, twisting their ankle, so the group each had to hold one of them while they searched. Stephen was holding the child, Hosuh held the baby, and Dan talked to people as the other two gave him a general direction.

The sight of Stephen holding a child and holding a baby himself had been enough to send Hosuh into a baby fever. They still laughed about it to this day, and saying that they’d lost control of their lives was the easiest way to make Hosuh embarrassed that Dan knew of. 

Stephen had trusted him with other information, which Hosuh didn’t know. They’d sat and cried together, a night where they shared a room and drank while his parents were out on a date, leaving them alone in the house. Maybe drinking wasn’t the best thing to do, but they were bored and thought it would be fun. 

“It’s my fault,” Stephen had whispered, his face flushed. Though with his anguish or the whiskey, Dan didn’t know, “He hates me and it’s my fucking fault.”

“C’mon, Gavin doesn’t hate you.” Dan sighed, reaching out to him and patting him on the back. He’d known Stephen for a few years at that point, and there were some things he had come to know about the Alpha. The one most applicable here was that Stephen needed physical comfort more than he let on. 

“He stormed out! If I- If I’d been better. Been a better brother or a better Alpha, this wouldn’t have happened! If… If I’d noticed that he was hurting…”

“Stephen. Just because Gavin’s girlfriend cheated on him, and you didn’t know, doesn’t make you a bad brother.” 

“I want to kill her.” His eyes were bleeding into red, tears gathering in his eyes, “I want her dead. I want to stab her with a knife until-”

“That’s not gonna solve anything.”

“It’ll get her out of his life! He won’t have to fucking see her in almost all his classes!”

He was used to being yelled at by the Alpha, but today had been particularly bad. Stephen and Gavin had a huge fight, with Stephen making a comment about how the omega’s girlfriend hadn’t been over recently, and the fight had escalated from there. It ended with Gavin walking out of the house, slamming the door and screaming at him. Dan knew where Gavin was, he was at Hosuh’s, with Hosuh having texted him before Stephen arrived. 

He’d already assured Stephen that Gavin was alright, and that he was safe. Dan had also known about the cheating, because he’d been the one who discovered it first. There was a party two weeks prior, some senior kid’s, and the girlfriend in question was found screwing the senior in his room. Dan had told Gavin and that was that. It didn’t solve the issue of them seeing one another all the time, though.

So he sat there, talking with Stephen all night until the next day came, as did the hangovers, and Gavin was there to pick up his overly emotional brother. There’d been tears, many tears between the three, and Dan was the only witness to it.

When he first met Anne, she’d never been one to strike him as someone with depression. But he was wrong, oh so very wrong, and Dan was the one she went to one morning when she couldn’t handle it. 

“I need to stay here for a little while.” She said softly to him, “Don’t ask, please...” He could smell her distress, but it didn’t bother him. He just nodded and picked her bag up, offering his own room to her while she stayed over. He didn’t ask, it wasn’t his place. Besides, Anne seemed so dejected that he didn’t want to ask, lest he upset her more. 

He’d heard her cry herself to sleep that night. Still, he didn’t ask. She didn’t leave the bed until four in the evening, going to bed at two in the morning. This repeated for a few days until she decided she couldn’t deal with it anymore. 

“I need to see a therapist. Dan… Would you mind sitting with me while I make the appointment?” She asked, her voice shaking as tears gathered in them. He sat her down and gently stroked her hair, trying to soothe her cries as she talked over the phone.

His friendships were amazing. They came to him if they needed something, and the knowledge that he was needed, that he was wanted, made him ecstatic. Though he didn’t quite want to talk to every one of them about his own problems; no, that wasn’t him. But he could make it through just fine.

His romantic relationships, on the other hand, were an entirely different beast of burden. 

There was an omega girl in highschool. She'd expected him to act like an Alpha while still being a Beta, because she didn't want all of the mess which went with it. To say it didn't last long was an understatement, he broke up with her after two weeks. She'd cried and called him an emotionless husk.

"Heh, guess it's a good metaphor for my entire life," He mumbled to himself as he thought back on it. He was sitting with his friends at their house, with Hosuh curled up next to him in a heavy blanket and Gavin sitting on the floor in front of him. Gavin was playing a game with Stephen and Jay, the two alphas competing just as hard as the omega. 

Over the years, he'd come to terms with his nature as a beta. It made him good at observing the little things about people, their nuances and idiosyncrasies which alphas and betas may skip over. He knew Hosuh was uncomfortable from his face, rather than his scent which the alphas needed to rely on. His scent was so strong that he needed to have a patch over his scent gland, and would for the next week. He'd only come home from the hospital yesterday, but Dan didn't need to know their history to know that Stephen was more worried than he let on. But Stephen was good at controlling his scent, keeping it as normal and even as ever to keep Hosuh from panicking.

He was sure those two would end up together. 

"What is?" Hosuh asked, barely able to be heard over the shouting over the other three guys.

"It's nothing, Hosuh. I'm fine." He had to be. He was an 'emotionless' beta after all. His scent never changed no matter what he was feeling, which was the indicator most people used to let them know people's emotions and intentions.

"No, you're not." Was the muffled reply.

The ringing sound of the doorbell echoed throughout the house and Dan excused himself from the group to answer the door, feeling Hosuh's gaze follow him. He knew it made him distant, but he didn't care. As a beta, it had been drilled into his head that he was supposed to be the mediator, the calm one. Even if he didn't feel that way.

He was mildly surprised to see a short pink girl standing in the doorway, her hair tied back into twin pigtails with bows. She stared up at him and smiled widely, waving to him as her cotton candy scent reached him. 

"Hey, Daniel!" She said, her high pitched voice as sweet as her scent as she hugged him tightly in greeting. He squeezed her gently, reflecting her smile back at her.

"Hey, Anne! How are you?" He asked, ushering her into the house, "I assume you're here to see Hosuh?" As if someone would be there to see him. 

"I'm alright, I just was worried about everyone here! It has been a while. How've you been aside from Hosuh's situation?"

"I've been alright. It was nice seeing my family, but man I felt bad for leaving Hosuh in that situation."

"I mean, you didn't know! It's okay!" 

That's what everyone said. It wasn't helping. He knew it wouldn't be long before he broke; everyone always worried more about Alphas and omegas than betas. Almost all of his classmates were betas and they worried over the two alphas in the class than their fellow nature, it was how their brains were hardwired. To keep the peace.

"Go suck a fucking dick, Gavin!!" Stephen exclaimed from the other room, and Dan let out a sigh. He knew they were supposed to keep it down, to keep their scents under control to help Hosuh recover faster. A crash followed immediately after and he guided Anne back towards the group, finding the brothers wrestling on the living room floor with Jay laughing at them as Hosuh attempted to calm them down without getting into the fight himself.

Gavin was laughing as he used his strength to push Stephen off of him, "Can't handle a loss, can you?!"

"Fuck off!"

"Try me, bro!"

Anne was more attuned to her nature than Gavin, shrinking back behind the couch at the overwhelming onslaught of the Alpha's scent which was changing towards a smokey burning, still warm but with a tinge of danger. She whispered something to Hosuh, who looked up at her with a small worried smile.

Dan took a deep breath before beginning to clear the stuff around them to let the fight happen. There was nothing he could do to stop it, he wasn't strong enough, but he could keep people from getting hurt. 

"Die!"

"You first!" 

The two continued to insult one another, though they knew it was all in jest, but Stephen kicked off his brother and knocked him back into the couch, jostling Hosuh. Instinctively, Jay jumped up and his scent shifted towards rage, making Hosuh and Anne shrink back away from the anger scent.

"Are you serious, Stephen?! Not cool, he could have gotten hurt!" He growled.

"Oh, c'mon! He can take it!"

"Yeah, I'm fine!"

Dan stepped in, holding his hands out to physically separate the Alphas and stand in front of the omegas. Even though their scents hadn't changed, the alphas were missing their bodily cues of fear and worry. It aggravated him, knowing that their instincts were ruling their brains rather than the idea that they could talk things out. With these two, it was act first and think second. Always. No exceptions.

"Enough! Stop it! You're scaring them, so you can stop your damn pissing contest and sit back down or you can keep scaring the omegas!"

"Shut up, Dan!" Stephen exclaimed, jumping up from the floor, "I'm about to knock this guy the fuck out."

"Oh please, as if you could."

"Can't you guys see beyond your own instinct?! Anne's here, Hosuh's still sick, and Gavin might've gotten hurt! Calm down, both of you, or someone's going to actually get killed!"

"That wouldn't be so bad, actually." Jay's calm voice was as sharp as ice, malicious intent radiating off of him in waves. The strong alpha scent was bothering the omegas behind Dan, he could tell by a quick glance. Anne had taken Hosuh's hand, hiding her face in the blanket which had been wrapped around him. Hosuh was trying not to cry, with the medication he was still on causing him to be extra emotional and sensitive to their scents, and even Gavin was letting out soft whines with a wince. 

But Anne's scent was being blocked by the blanket and her clothes, Hosuh's scent was completely stopped, and Gavin didn't want to be whining even if he was. Even if their scents had changed, it wouldn't be strong enough to penetrate the wall of Alpha pheromones.

"Think about it for a second, you dumbos. Pay attention, Hosuh's gonna cry, Anne's about to scream, and Gavin needs to be checked over! So take a few deep breaths, look at them, and tell me it's still worth fighting."

That was enough to get through to them, through the haze of pheromones and instincts. They took a second to observe the omegas, shoulders slumping as they calmed down. This wasn't an abnormal occurrence in their house, but it was still how they ended up a lot of times. It wasn't their fault, he knew, but it didn't mean it didn't bother him. In the cases where someone ended up actually getting hurt and Alpha voices came out, it was Dan's responsibility to bring them back down to earth and get them to realize that what they were doing hurt people they cared about. It made him want to scream at their wolves, but it ended up just the same. 

Dan could see the gears turning in their heads, watching them take in the appearance of their opposite natured companions, and let out a sigh of relief when they calmed down. He put his hands down and they immediately went over to the group, checking on them and practically babying them despite Gavin's trying to stop it. Stephen still was worried he'd actually hurt him, though there was hardly a bruise.

"It's just the scents, bro. I'm fine. I'm actually kinda jealous of Dan because he doesn't have to deal with it," Gavin laughed as Anne and Hosuh unfurled themselves, Jay checking Hosuh's eyes and asking him about his stress while attempting to console Anne. Though those mismatched eyes kept coming back over to the blue-haired omega, as Stephen's went to Hosuh's.

Dan hated it. Relationships came so easily to people with their dynamics, all it took was an interest and they could be together forever. But there he was, a lone Beta in a group of Alphas and Omegas. But he couldn't show it. So he sat back down on the couch, the same old smile on his face as he did so. No one knew what he was thinking.

That was one of the advantages of being a beta, he guessed, as things settled back into a calm wave. Hosuh was almost asleep leaning on his shoulder, the medicine draining his energy, Anne and Gavin sitting on the floor as she joined into their game. He wasn't sure what they were playing, but he knew they were likely to start fighting again. He couldn't stand it. There was so much pressure on him to be the center of things, to keep things together in their little pack which didn't have a leader.

In a pack without a leader, it was the responsibility of the betas to take charge and lead the omegas until they found an Alpha who could become the head of their group. It put all the pressure on him. There was nothing he could do, nowhere he could go, and there wasn't a way he could handle it. Nothing was left to him.

It was another fundamental truth about the world of betas; his life was decided by Alphas above him and omegas wanting him to be an Alpha. So he played along, with nothing else to do. 

"Dan?" Hosuh whispered, looking up at him again, "Are you really okay? I'm not mad, ya know."

"I know, Hosuh." As guilty as he felt about the situation, there was nothing he could do about it now. He could only care for the aftermath. "I promise, it's nothing. You can rest, I'll make sure these idiots don't get into a screaming match." 

It was an interesting dynamic they had, with more omegas than alphas and only one Beta. Most packs were made of maybe two alphas, three or more betas, with one omega. He dreaded if they ever officially became a pack, as the pack alpha had a certain responsibility. Mostly, by law, they had full autonomy over any unmated omegas in a legal sense. In Canada, things were better for omegas than in most other countries, but it didn't make things much better.

Dan looked around the group of his friends, laughing together, playing games and caring for one another, and felt out of place. Just another face in the crowd. Just another Beta. A seaside scent, someone who was meant to take care of the group even if he didn't want to.

But as Anne looked up at him, offering her controller so he could join them, and Hosuh moved closer while Stephen, Jay, and Gavin cracked jokes at one another's expense, he felt at home. These people were his friends. They didn't see Daniel the Beta, they just saw Dan. Their friend. A little annoying, the leader of their group, who set out fun scenarios and took them on fun adventures they never would have otherwise. Sometimes he messed up, sometimes he felt lonely, and yeah, he was far from perfect.

It was unfair of him to think of them as just their dynamics, a smile plastered on his face as he began to laugh along with them. He could be a little insensitive, a bit oblivious, and Dan certainly wasn't the ideal Beta. But none of his friends were the ideal of their dynamics.

They were them. He was him. Just a bunch of misfits. 

And that was just fine with Dan, because this time, the smile on his face was real. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry if this is shorter than my normal fics, Dan was never really my favorite character and every time I write him I feel like I veer too much towards Drama Territory. Also in case anyone is confused: These are the characters but the characters are Youtubers :)


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